In my first blog post concerning my upcoming study in Japan, I investigated two possible host universities. Both are similar in that they offered courses in English, are private institutions in Tokyo, and are both UOW partner universities. Without any prior knowledge or any past students’ reports to assist me, I utilised the web to decide between the two and ultimately make a decision that I will be living with for the next year.

I had anticipated that it would be an easy task, given Japan’s affinity for technology and their perceived fondness for foreigners; however, I found that their websites were difficult to navigate and hard to understand. It’s off-putting for a hopeful exchange student to encounter such barriers, but my experience has led me to a few epiphanies as to why this may be the case.